How good is Tim Duncan?

[reo]

Barkley and Malone never get enough respect. Must be due to the "rings" . . .

[lastchance]

I think Duncan definitely > Barkley, but Malone was good for longer than almost anyone else, the guy was a top 5 player in the league for 13 seasons or something ridiculous like that (and all star caliber for like 3 on top of that 13+).

Sick.

Duncan's only got 9 seasons like that, max.

[Taraz]

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I think Duncan definitely > Barkley, but Malone was good for longer than almost anyone else, the guy was a top 5 player in the league for 13 seasons or something ridiculous like that (and all star caliber for like 3 on top of that 13+).

Sick.

Duncan's only got 9 seasons like that, max.

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People rate Malone lower because he routinely disappeared during "crunch time" and when plays seemed to matter the most. He never really handled intense pressure well.

[tdarko]

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Larry Bird's mind was so focused that he would attain jhana levels of concentration so deep that he would just slow the game down to frame by frame, one hoop dharma at a time. In Larry's mind, 48 minutes of basketball would take about a month and a half.

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Good Lord! An entire season must have been a real bitch for Larry, that is like a decade. I can't even imagine what his career felt like...130 years, man to be able to battle through that, what a true G.

[kidcolin]

That's why he got old fast man. Have you seen him lately? The Legend is in rough shape.

[HajiShirazu]

In the end basketball is all about entertainment for me with winning being part of the entertainment factor but only in the sense that it adds more legitimacy to the game compared to some streetball competition or all star game. Using this metric TD is the absolute worst good player of all time. Duncan's teams are like the mid 90's Devils of basketball. It's not because he a bad guy and you can't blame the spurs for playing their style, but the sport is probably less popular because of him and the spurs and IMO you can't say that about any other true superstar in the league today or as long as I remember. Even if TD is a better or more efficient basketball player, if I was running a franchise and had any interest in anything other than winning an NBA title I would prefer any of the other players listed, especially since they were all toss-ups with TD in their primes.

[Assani Fisher]

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Didn't read rest of thread, but if he wins the title this year, he's probably the top 4 ever. (He insists he's a 4 not a 5... whatev, the competition is not as great there.)

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Uh no, Jordan, Magic, Shaq, Russel, Wilt, Kareem, Bird. I guess he's debatable with the last 2 but I can't imagine a top 5 list that has Duncan in it.

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I have Duncan in my top 5 ever. I think hes really underrated because hes not flashy. But hes such a great all around player. Bird and Magic were marginal defenders and don't belong with the rest of the players you listed imo because of that. But I already went through all of this in the Official Steve Nash thread, so I'll stop there.

[Assani Fisher]

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Mano, I'm glad you made this post. Since nobody was commenting on that other thread I thought everyone just agreed Duncan was better than Magic and Bird. I thought everyone had lost their mind.

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Trust me, I fully realize that I'm in the minority. Nearly EVERYBODY loves the players from the 80s just like you guys do.

[Assani Fisher]

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It's not really fair to compare KG and TD using raw numbers because of pace.

Also, TD is a better defensive player.

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not like KG is a slouch defensively, they are pretty close there as well

both are 31, but KG has 181more games played

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Duncan was NBA ready when he entered. KG came striaght out from HS and had a relatively bad rookie year.

KG's D is not bad. But Duncan's D is awesome. If Duncan's offensive numbers suck, he'd probably be Defense Player of the Year a couple of times.

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To just say "not bad" severely underrates KG's defense:

1999-00 NBA All-Defense (1st)
2000-01 NBA All-Defense (1st)
2001-02 NBA All-Defense (1st)
2002-03 NBA All-Defense (1st)
2003-04 NBA All-Defense (1st)
2004-05 NBA All-Defense (1st)
2005-06 NBA All-Defense (2nd)
2006-07 NBA All-Defense (2nd)



With all that said, I do agree that Duncan is a better defender.

[Vyse]

I would say Malone destroys Duncan, and Barkley is quite close.